Halladay Needs Surgery, Could Pitch Again in ’13

Roy Halladay addressed the media in San Francisco today following his visit with Dr. Lewis Yocum in Los Angeles yesterday. The results were not great, but also, as of now, not career threatening.

Halladay announced he has bone spurs, a frayed labrum, and a partially-torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder, with surgery to follow. Doc mentioned it could be somewhere in the range of three months if everything goes as planned.

So, in essence, it’s bad, but not as bad as it could be. I think realistically, pitching again this season seems like an outside chance. Much depends on what they’ll find once they get in there. So it’s again a waiting game.

Halladay at least seems optimistic that his career can be saved, but again, they’ll know more after surgery.

What that means for his time in Philadelphia is also an unknown. He is a free agent after the season and did not address what would happen next year until he knows the extent of the injury. However, it’s very possible we could have seen Roy Halladay pitch for the final time with the Phillies – and in a 14-2 loss to the Marlins, no less. We certainly hope that is not the case.

As for his spot in the rotation, for the time being it will be Tyler Cloyd, but Ruben Amaro did say that with John Lannan’s impending return, he’s unsure if they will acquire another arm.

Here are some live-tweets during the media session:

Halladay will have surgery – clean up bone spurs, rotator cuff. Keeps using “clean up”. Could pitch again this year. No time on surgery yet.